Newark – Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow today announced the arrest of two suspectswanted in connection with the February 22nd shooting death of Daniel Pritchard at the Claridge Sunoco station on Pompton Avenue in Verona.

Prosecutor Dow specifically cited the Essex County Sheriff’s Crimestoppers program as playing “a critical role” in the homicide investigation. The Crimestoppers program had offered a cash reward up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrests.

At this morning’s press conference at Veterans Courthouse in Newark, Sheriff Fontoura said, “Our Crimestoppers program has successfully publicized many unsolved crimes in the past and has triggered the memories of persons who may have missed the original news of a particular crime. This was a very successful investigation, featuring good old fashioned police work, combined with a tip we received though our Crimestoppers program. Crimestoppers actively engages the residents of our community with law enforcement.”

Prosecutor Dow stated that David Fate, a suspect in the crime, was arrested by detectives from the Prosecutor’s Homicide Squad, officers from the United States Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force and local police at a relative’s home without incident early this morning in South Carolina.

Dow also said that Raymond Perry, the other suspect in Pritchard’s murder, was arrested last Thursday at a friend’s home in Newark. Both suspects are residents of Newark.

The two men are also accused as the perpetrators of a series of armed robberies throughout Essex County during the past month.

Perry is being held at the Essex County jail in lieu of $1 million bail. Fate is in custody in South Carolina awaiting extradition to Essex County. His bail was also set at $1 million.

In recent years, tips to the Crimestoppers hotline helped solve the 2007 murder of an Irvington man and the capture of the notorious “Hat Bandit” who was charged in 19 bank robberies.

Crimestoppers is a non-profit corporation, funded by contributions from businesses and the private sector at no cost to local taxpayers. The program is administered by a volunteer civilian board of directors who oversee Crimestoppers routine business affairs, finances, and reward amounts.